Priest, beaten up in Orissa violence, shares his story
06/17/09 NEW DELHI, India (UCAN) -- A four-month long campaign of violence against Christians by Hindu radicals in Orissa last year has shown the strength of Christians' faith, says a priest who was severely attacked himself.
Father Thomas Chellan was beaten and paraded half-naked on the road on Aug. 25, a day after violence began in the eastern Indian state. His colleague, a 29-year-old Catholic nun, was raped on the same day, also in Kandhamal district. Both were paraded by the extremists in public.
In the nun's rape case, police arrested 17 of 19 suspects and have scheduled a lineup on June 23 for the nun to identify her violators. In a similar exercise in January, the nun could identify only two people who were in the gang that attacked her. Father Chellan also attended the earlier lineup.
Father Chellan, 56, spoke with UCA News in New Delhi after receiving an award from the Fides et Ratio (Latin: faith and reason) Foundation in Italy. The annual award honors a person for the heroic defense of faith.
The priest says hundreds have been widowed and orphaned in the violence in India, but media and local governments seem to have forgotten them. However, those poor women and children hold on to their Christian faith despite experiencing violence, death and other threats to make them convert to Hinduism, he says.
His interview follows:
UCA NEWS: What do you think about the future of the nun's rape case?
FATHER THOMAS CHELLAN: In our legal system, any case depends on so-called witnesses. Many criminals escape the law because witnesses defect for various reasons. In the nun's rape case, I wonder how many would come forward to testify to what they witnessed. What security is there for the Hindu family that sheltered me (on the previous night of attack)? But if (the system) wants to do justice in the rape case, it can, because the incident occurred in public and did not happen on the spur of the moment.
Why are people concentrating only on this case? What about other women whose husbands were killed? Why are they forgotten? Their cases should be more severe than mine and the sister's case. Since the sister's rape case has made international headlines, everyone is concentrating on it.
Even our prime minister (Manmohan Singh) described the nun's case as the most shameful thing to happen when he visited some European nations during the Orissa trouble. But there are some 75 women whose husbands were killed. Why is the prime minister not ashamed of what happened to those women? The entire nation should be ashamed of killing people in the name of religion. At least I and the sister are alive.
Have you overcome the trauma?
I think I have. However, those scenes keep coming back to me when people ask about the incident. Otherwise, it does not bother me now. I do not have any nightmares about it. When we go to court, they may make you recall it all. The defense lawyer would want to prove the case is false. But I recall everything clearly. People came armed with axes, iron rods and wooden sticks and broke the door.
Policemen were around when they attacked me. I pleaded with them to save me from those men. One attacker hit my face hard and asked, "Why do you seek police help?" So what security do people who come forward to testify have? Everyone fears for his life. Ours is just one of several cases.
Why is there so much hatred for Christians? Is it because the Church has neglected other people?
It is not correct at all to say the Church has neglected other people. We have not neglected anybody. Our educational and health institutions are open to all. Most people who attended programs in our pastoral center were people of other religions. We gave the place to many NGOs and groups to conduct their programs. So how can anyone say we keep people out on the basis of religion or caste?
The fanatics' hatred for Christians is not unique to Orissa. Kandhamal is a very backward district. In the past 25 years, the Church has been very much involved in educating and helping the tribal and dalit (former "untouchables" in the Hindu caste system) people to become self sufficient. So, what is the problem? The former untouchable people now sit with others. If someone questions them, they shout back. Now these people claim their rightful place socially, economically and politically. Christianity has contributed to this change and some resent this.
There have been tensions between tribal and dalit people in the district for some time. It is a social problem and has nothing to do with the Church. The Church has people from both groups. The cause of the violence is wrongly interpreted and the Church is unnecessarily dragged into the social problem.
Kandhamal is considered the backbone of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese as many Catholics live there. Has the recent violence destroyed this backbone?
They might have intended to break the backbone but I do not think it is broken. If you consider institutions as Church, then most of them are destroyed. For us people are the Church. I am told people are slowly going back to their parishes and homes. Rebuilding our institutions is not our priority. We want people to have their houses first. We are talking with the government to rebuild houses.
People may be scattered now but they will come back once the situation becomes favorable. Even those who agreed to convert to Hinduism to escape death will come back. Some have come back quietly. Others stay back only because of threats. They also will all come back. The attack has only strengthened their faith.
How?
Just imagine this. Some people threatened Christians to make them change their religion, and promised help and protection. They also threatened to kill Christians if they did not change their religion. But Christians stood their ground. Why does a woman and her children hold on to their faith even after the father was killed for not changing his religion? If they could withstand such trying times, they will continue to remain in the faith.
Some complain that priests ran away from parishes as soon as the troubles began. This is wrong. It is true many parishes went without priests for a week or two. But now most priests are back in their places.
Some priests stayed in relief camps but police asked them to move out saying their presence would create trouble for others. They were not allowed to be with people in the camps. Even now in parishes, priests are not going around much because of administrative restrictions. How many people know of this reality?
I have heard some pious Catholics in southern India praying for the Church as they were upset that the priests and bishop were away from Orissa when the violence began, leaving people to fend for themselves. I appreciate their prayers but they could have done better if they had gone to Kandhamal and offered their prayers with the displaced people. I don't know why they did not do that. It is easy to preach.
How has the attack affected you as a priest?
After this incident, I had so many opportunities to be away from Orissa. There were many offers for me to leave Orissa and forget about it. But I have taken up a mission which I do not want to abandon. In that way, I can only say the attack has strengthened me. I only want to see that our people are back in their homes and continue their activities, forget the past and lead a new life.
I'm alive today because of God's providence. My attackers had poured kerosene on me and wanted to burn me alive with matches. I thought that was the end. But then one person said there was no point in burning me inside the building as no one would see it! Another suggested parading me and the sister on the road and later burning us together. Then a group brought the sister from another building. One searched for a rope to tie us together. I think we escaped death because each of our attackers had different ideas about killing us. When they paraded us to the market place, I saw people burning used tires, but do not know why they did not put them on us.
What is the future of the Orissa mission?
The Church in Orissa has been responding to the needs of its people. Hundreds of people studied in Church schools and secured government jobs. So when the Church began to work in Kandhamal, it realized the most urgent need of the people there were education and healthcare. The majority of the priests in the archdiocese have come from Kandhamal district. Priests from outside are just a handful. From where did these local priests come? They are all products of some 20 hostels the Church manages in various parts of the district. If these facilities were not there, many would not have completed high school.
Our contact with people should improve. That does not mean we are not doing it now. But there is need for more interaction with people. We should not be tied down to our institutions.
Should the Orissa Church move away from institutions?
This is a contemporary worry that the Church is institutionalized. Church institutions in Kandhamal are buildings with basic facilities. They help people come up in life. We have thousands of poor children to educate. They have no other place to stay and study. So such institutions are necessary as long as the Church wants to help the poor.
Some say what happened in Orissa should happen in other parts to purify and strengthen the Church in India.
I pity those people for making such statements. Is that the only way to purify the Church in India? Are those people willing to undergo persecution? How has the Church renewed itself over the centuries? I don't think persecution is the only means of renewal. We should not invite and await persecution to renew ourselves. If one thinks only persecution can renew him or her, he or she should go to places where Christians face violence and get renewed.
People who say persecution is required for renewal seem to say they do not need it but others do. If one thinks he needs persecution, please go to one of these places and get beaten up.
People in Orissa have held on to their faith despite violence and even threats to their lives. Some were forcefully tonsured in an attempt to make them Hindus. But they said they have only lost their hair but not their faith. We know our people, we know our Church.
Do you think the trouble in Orissa is over?
I cannot say it is over. Problems in Orissa started more than a decade ago with the killing of (Australian Protestant missioner) Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons.
What is your plan now?
I went to Orissa (from my native Kerala state in southern India) when I was 16. I had no blood relations there nor had anyone invited me there. My aim was to become a priest. In 1974, almost all my companions had left the seminary or joined elsewhere, but I stayed back. I have been a priest for 29 years. So my interest is to go back to the same place and work there. How far is it possible now? Local people have left the area and live in relief camps. Unless I have confidence in the situation, I cannot go back. If you can tell me when the situation will become peaceful and conducive for work, I can tell you when I will go back.
Source: http://www.ucanews.com
